• Luke 12:47-48 "And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”

The Lord is saying that eternal damnation is not equal for all who die unsaved. Those who die without knowing Jesus and the will of God, “shall be beaten with few stripes,” meaning that their punishment in hell will be at a lower level than the punishment of those who knew the truth and continued to live like they never heard the Gospel.

Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit, no one can believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. If one continues to deny Jesus, after God revealed Himself to him and continues to live like before, this person will pay the price. As long as we were blind to the truth, God tolerated our ignorance. But once God opened our eyes to the truth, if we continue to act like we don't care that Jesus paid the price for our sin, by dying in our place on the cross to save us, it is a huge insult to God and we will pay the consequences.

• Galatians 6:7 "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
  

Also as quoted above in Luke,

• "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required"

The Holy Spirit does not waste His gifts. Those of us who receive the spiritual gifts, have to use them for God's Glory, for “edification and exhortation and comfort to men” (1 Corinthians 14:3) within the Church and for ministering to those who are not Christians yet or those who are backslidden. Every single one of us is called to preach the Gospel, The Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ.​

When a person is "in love," all those who will talk with, will hear about his/her loved one. It is the same with the born again Christians, as they are in love with their Lord. The more we desire to share about Jesus, the more hungry we are for studying the Bible, because we want to know our Lord better. The deeper we know the Word of God, the more we change, becoming better and better examples for those around us. We will also be able to answer the questions better of those whom we minister to and even be able to better disciple them. We will also grow in our prayer life, as we will feel the urge to pray more “that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ,” (Colossians 4:3), to enlighten our minds to understand the Scriptures better and also to open the hearts of those to whom we share The Good News, to be willing to accept Jesus as Lord over their lives and live for Him.

In order to be able to efficiently disciple those who come to Jesus, we need a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. Only the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit is able to change those to whom we minister. People won't repent because they hear beautiful words or sophisticated sermons. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts a person of sin and gives the desire to be saved. All that the Bible is teaches us about living a Christian life is important such as repenting and renouncing sin, reading, studying and meditating on the Word of God, prayer and fasting, preaching the Gospel, praise and worship for God's Glory, living in obedience to God, operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All these facet of living a Christian life are intrinsically connected and we can not neglect any of them, without suffering loss.


Carmen Pușcaș